English for the Workplace

About this course

The aim of this course is to introduce learners to the English language skills they need to successfully operate in English in a work environment. The course is aimed at people who are currently working, as well as those not yet in employment. This course covers the essentials of business communication in English and is designed for individuals with lower-intermediate to intermediate language skills. The modules will cover written and verbal communication in general, as well as common scenarios for using English at work.

What You Will Learn

• How to be polite when meeting new people
• How to ask for clarification and check understanding
• How to speak effectively on the telephone
• How to make arrangements with other people
• How to give an effective presentation
• How to deal with questions from your audience
• How to take part and interrupt in meetings
• How to deal with technical problems in a videoconference

Syllabus– What you will learn from this course

Unit One: Starting work

In this unit, you will learn some expressions for meeting new people on your first day of work, how to ask questions in a polite way and how to check that you have understood someone correctly.

Unit Two: On the phone

In this unit, you will learn some useful expressions for talking in English on the telephone, some expressions for making arrangements and appointments with other people and how to finish a call effectively, with a clear idea of the next action steps.

Unit Three: Presentations

In this unit, you will learn some useful expressions for starting a presentation, some techniques and expressions for guiding your listener through your presentation and some techniques and expressions for dealing with questions from the audience.

Unit Four: Meetings and videoconferences

In this unit, you will learn some useful expressions for taking part in meetings, how to politely interrupt if you want to say something important and some expressions for dealing with technical difficulties in videoconferences.

Institution:

Edraak

Edraak, is a massive open online course (MOOC) platform, that is an initiative of the Queen Rania Foundation (QRF). QRF is determined to ensure that the Arab world is at the forefront of educational innovation. As such, QRF has capitalized on regional Arab talent to leverage technology developed by the Harvard-MIT consortium, edX, to create the first non-profit Arabic MOOC platform. The new MOOC platform will present the Arab world with unique and vital opportunities that can be part of a necessary revolution in education and learning.

First, the platform will broadcast the best Arab professors to the region, offering original Arabic courses – developed by QRF – to further enrich Arab education. Through its partnership with edX, the platform will also give Arab learners access in Arabic to courses taught and developed at top tier institutions like HarvardX, MITX, and UC BerkelyX. All courses are delivered at no cost to the learner.

Second, QRF envisions the use of the platform to showcase Arab role models by broadcasting short online courses by practitioners and professionals from a variety of fields spanning the arts and sciences.

Finally, QRF believes that the platform will enable the Arab world to take advantage of the international interest in regional affairs to tell its own story to the world. Arab university professors and regional experts can use the platform to give courses in English about the region and its history. This will serve to inform a global audience that is interested in the region’s development.

The British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Last year we reached over 65 million people directly and 731 million people overall including online, through broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.

Instructors

Helen Strong

Helen Strong has over 20 years’ experience working in the corporate training environment, where she designed and delivered courses in English for the workplace, communication skills, and intercultural skills. She is a coach, teacher trainer, and materials writer and she regularly presents at international conferences. Helen lives in Scotland, where she is a materials writer and consultant with The Consultants-E.